My Dress-Up Darling

## My Dress-Up Darling *My Dress-Up Darling* (*Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru*) by Shinichi Fukuda became one of the defining manga romances of the early 2020s — propelled by a 2022 anime adaptation from CloverWorks but anchored in a manga that does more with its characters than the genre typically allows. Wakana Gojo is a high school boy training in hina doll craft under his grandfather, passionate about a traditional art that his peers find strange. He's isolated by the gap between his interests and theirs. Marin Kitagawa is the most socially effortless girl in school — fashionable, enthusiastic, and genuinely kind. When Marin discovers that Gojo can sew, she recruits him to make cosplay costumes based on her favorite eroge characters. What starts as a transactional arrangement becomes a genuine partnership, and eventually something more. *My Dress-Up Darling* is a romance that earns its emotional notes by spending serious time on craft — both sewing and character development — before the feelings arrive.